ChasingBlueSky

Would like to hear from Master Riggers or gear makers on this one. Do you feel that there can be any long term negative effects on gear from hybrids? I specifically refer to freefly 'draggers' who pull the belly flyers down via chest straps or harness. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Ya think I'm gonna tell ya that???? This is what happens when she doesn't get kissed. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Nope, the story was pushed today, after the levee broke. If the '4th strongest recorded' hurricane landed on top of NOLA, that city would be in a worse state of emergency than it currently is. Thinking just how bad it is now, that says a lot. But it could still get worse. Looking at this realistically, there is a good chance that the Gulf Coast could still take another hit this season. People in Pensacola are still recovering from last year and may have already lost what they were rebuilding. Here is another thought - how many emergency crew are busy pulling out the thousands that decided to stay in their non-hurricane proof home/shanty that could be focused on stopping the flooding of the city. It seems to me this is the first time in modern American history that a major metropolitian city needs to be 100% evacuated for more than just a day. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I love New Orleans - beautiful place, fun people, great history there as well. However, the last time I was there I walked around and looked at the river level and where the city was...and thought how bad it will be when (not if) their safety systems fail. I feel the same about the people here on the south side of Chicago that have homes right on the rivers that are massively prone to flooding. (If the lock on the Chicago river failed, we would have the same issue on hand). Then again, all those beachfront property owners on the east coast have the same issue (outbanks, most of Florida, etc) NOLA got lucky that they were only brushed over by a 3/4 hurricane - imagine if a 5 hit them head on? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

wow bro...gonna scare your patients now! _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Meteorologists: It Could Have Been Worse http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050831/ap_on_re_us/katrina_how_big Devastating as Katrina was, it would have been far worse but for a puff of dry air that came out of the Midwest, weakening the hurricane just before it reached land and pushing it slightly to the east. The gust transformed a Category 5 monster into a less-threatening Category 4 storm, and pushed Katrina off its Big Easy-bound trajectory, sparing New Orleans a direct hit — though not horrendous harm. "It was kind of an amazing sequence of events," said Peter Black, a meteorologist at the Hurricane Research Division of the federal government's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. On Sunday, meteorologists watched in awe as one of the most powerful hurricanes they had ever seen churned northward over the Gulf of Mexico on a direct bearing for New Orleans. Fed by unusually warm waters in the central gulf, Katrina easily pumped itself up to a Category 5 monster, with top winds approaching 175 mph. That afternoon a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration aircraft flying through the storm pegged its minimum barometric pressure at 902 millibars, making Katrina the fourth most powerful hurricane ever observed. But by the time it reached land Monday, Katrina was no stronger than any of a dozen or more hurricanes that have hit the United States in the past century. Hurricane Camille had a substantially lower central pressure when it slammed into Mississippi in 1969. Hurricane Charley blasted the Sunshine State with higher winds when it came ashore near Tampa last year. So if it wasn't so powerful, how did Hurricane Katrina inflict so much destruction? The storm's sheer size was one factor. As powerful as Hurricane Charley was, that storm's swath of destruction was only about 10 miles wide. Katrina battered everything from just west of New Orleans to Pensacola, Fla., a span of more than 200 miles. At noon Monday, hurricane force winds extended to 125 miles from Katrina's center. "This storm was quite a bit larger, so the extent of the damaging wind field would have covered a much larger geographic area," said Marc Levitan, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Louisiana State University. Geography also played a role in the hurricane's destructiveness. The Gulf of Mexico's northern fringe is an extremely shallow shelf extending up to 120 miles offshore. That makes the region's coastline extremely vulnerable to the storm surges that hurricanes create as their winds and low pressure pile up water and push it ashore. And Katrina was moving fairly slowly, about 12 to 15 mph. That gave the storm surge more time to build up as the hurricane approached the coast and then moved inland. Those circumstances made Katrina "nearly a worst-case scenario," said Hurricane Research Division meteorologist Stanley Goldberg. Some witnesses reported storm surges of more than 25 feet along the Mississippi coast, among the highest ever recorded. The waters around New Orleans rose as much as 22 feet. But the catastrophic sequence of events that appeared highly likely on Sunday afternoon — a Category 5 hurricane washing over the Big Easy's ramparts and filling it like a bowl — did not come to pass. Instead, a different scenario unfolded. Several levees failed on Tuesday, unleashing floods that placed the city of 480,000 in peril long after Hurricane Katrina had dissipated. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Nope - it gets worse. You start looking for more jumps in a weekend, new gear, new toys, etc.....its a money/time sink. But, if you enjoy it you will never notice. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

There were some pics from a couple years back of someone doing it on a smaller canopy than a velo90...think it was a 60ish in size. I believe sluggo had a third canopy just in case. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

grew up a very shy kid...forced myself to become an extrovert and went into the media, sales, etc....now I am reverting to my shy, introverted ways. It's amazing how much money you can save when you become anti-social. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Not to lessen the impact (it's huge, and possibly the biggest in economic terms), but the Galveston hurricane in 1900 killed over 5000 people. Wendy W. See...there I go opening my mouth again...gonna shut up now and study history. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Honestly, I'm working on that! I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Yes, I-10 is gone from MS to LA. Prayers to your family. The AP has been showing pics of I-10 just east of NO that has collapsed into the water. Now the super dome is being evacuated as the lake pours into the city in at least two spots. Over 3000 sandbags airdropped into the broken levee spots so far have not stopped the flooding. This could easily top Andrew as the biggest natural disaster to hit this country. The scary part is this isn't even the busy season for hurricanes yet. Hopefully they get a break from another hit this season. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Well, I don't have an eye doc - trying to get one to go on my schedule. I haven't told them why, so that could be the issue. thanks for advice - I will see where that gets me. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Wait, you have to do that? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

oh. Let me claify for you, smartass! I can SEE the blackdot when looking around - damn thing moves around. I can't see anything in either eye when looking in the mirror, but due to summer allergies I've had an increase in bloodshot eyes/red veins. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Nope, have only worn my contacts three times this summer - and never over eight hours (my eyes can't handle it). _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

How many people in Florida do you know that are complacent about these storms? Are you willing to bet someone's life on the hurricane roof clips? Also, I've yet to meet a homeowner in Florida that has pre-made storm shutters that could be fastened to the house when these storms come to town. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Well...playing the waiting game trying to get an appointment with an eye doctor that will fit with my schedule. In the meantime....anyone have a clue what a faint black dot in your vision means? It seems to follow the direction I look. It's very faint so it doesn't interfer with my vision. Been there for close to two weeks now. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I've heard/seen this attitude about hurricanes from many of our Florida jumpers over the last few years. Go back to last year and look at the threads and how many choose to ride out the storm. The ironic part is that some of these folk are the same that claim complacency kills in skydiving, or are canopy nazis. They are predicting 11 more storms this season, 7-9 will be major, and 3-5 could wash ashore. Yup, a record season. Let's see what they say over the next few months. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1080042&page=1 WHY do people choose to do things like this? I understand that not all have a place to go, but FEMA often provides shelter for these people. Beachfront property isn't the place to be even during a tropical storm, let alone a hurricane. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

btw - this is also the point you will find out who your true friends in this sport are, and which ones just happen to be in your life because you visit the same DZ. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

It happens. Taking time off myself, haven't found the urge to sell the gear. Heart still races when I smell Jet-A but I don't find myself rushing to the DZ. There will be people that have a myopic view and call your a tourist or other junk. It doesn't matter - this is a sport you started doing for personal reasons and motivations. You should leave if they are non-existent. Maybe hold off on selling gear for a couple months - see if you are really serious about moving on. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Me too. Next time I do that, I'll PM you and you can call me stupid.

An annoyance still has a funny way of killing people. Complacency is deadly. Tornado warnings are regular events here in the midwest but I would say less than 1% of them will ever effect you. I don't know anyone that takes them lightly. We had zero deaths for a large portion of tornado season. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

...interesting..... 08/22/05 The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency recently announced that it already has received enough petitions for H-1B visas for fiscal year 2006 to exhaust the annual congressionally mandated cap. Although this is the first time that the cap has been reached before the start of the fiscal year (which begins Oct. 1), the allotment for fiscal 2005 visas was reached on the first day of the fiscal year, leading many in the business community to conclude that the demand for H-1B visas is much greater than the supply. In 2000, Congress boosted the annual cap for H-1B visas to 195,000 for three fiscal years. However, when the cap was not reached in fiscal years 2001 and 2002, Congress allowed the annual cap to return to 65,000 for fiscal year 2003. Although there are several pending immigration proposals in Congress, none would increase the H-1B cap. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is supporting legislation that would provide a flexible cap that would increase or decrease based on demand. The proposal argues that the current system “hurts businesses by diminishing their ability to remain competitive and ensure predictability in the business planning process.” Opponents of the H1-B visa program, such as trade unions, argue that because of the shortage of highly skilled workers, Congress should be earmarking more money for worker training, especially for displaced workers. USCIS will accept applications for fiscal year 2007 visas beginning April 1, 2006. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....